I was hopeful through the first half of the article, but that last investigative piece was ridiculous - he defended vehemently GSD bites (the dogs didn't MEAN to hurt somebody) and compared pits and rotties to pumas. Whatever. I can't wait to get out of Ohio.

Thousands of pit bulls live in Cleveland. City law requires pit bull owners to cage them, to muzzle them when they are being walked and to carry liability insurance. Many owners ignore the law, so city dog wardens confiscate the dogs and euthanize them.Last year, the city killed 1,335 pit bulls. So far this year, 737 have been put down.Plain Dealer videographer Lonnie Timmons III follows a dog warden on the job. The warden catches a stray pit bull and confiscates another from a family that hadn't complied with the pit bull law. Both dogs were put down.The Cleveland Animal Protective League is also forced to euthanize pit bulls -- those that are surrendered by their owners and those confiscated from neglectful or cruel owners.(NOTE: Pit bulls do not have "locking jaws." No breed of dog does. The dog warden in the video is describing a biting dog's tenacity when he refers to "locking jaws.")View reports regarding the inaccuracies of dog bite studies and the ineffectiveness of bans from the Center for Disease Control, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the National Animal Interest Alliance and Canine Advocates of Ohio.1979 - 1998 Center for Disease ControlFATAL DOG ATTACK STUDYBreed Number of Deaths PUREBRED Pit Bull Type 66 Rottweiler 39 German Shepherd 17 Husky Type 15 Malamute 12 Doberman Pinscher 9 Chow Chow 8 Great Dane 7 Saint Bernard 7 TOTAL FOR PUREBRED DEATHS: 180

TOTAL DEATHS: 1979-1998 482 ----------------------------------------------------------------An analysis media accounts of dog attack deaths and maimings in the U.S. & CanadaSeptember 1982 to July 30, 2008by Merritt CliftonEditor, ANIMAL PEOPLE newspaper(reprinted with permission)Reports are logged as received, and the current log is printed out as requested. Compiled by the editor of ANIMAL PEOPLE from press accounts since 1982, this table covers only attacks by dogs of clearly identified breed type or ancestry, as designated by animal control officers or others with evident expertise, who have been kept as pets. Due to the exclusion of dogs whose breed type may be uncertain, this is by no means a complete list of fatal and otherwise serious dog attacks. Attacks by police dogs, guard dogs, and dogs trained specifically to fight are also excluded. "Attacks doing bodily harm" includes all fatalities, maimings, and other injuries requiring extensive hospital treatment. "Maimings" includes permanent disfigurement or loss of a limb. Where there is an asterisk (*), please see footnotes. If there are more "attacks" than "victims," it means that there were multiple dogs involved in some attacks. If the numbers of "victims" does not equal the numbers of "deaths" and "maimings," it means that some of the victims -- in attacks in which some people were killed or maimed -- were not killed or maimed. Over the duration of the data collection, the severity of the logged attacks appears to be at approximately the 1-bite-in-10,000 level.

Attacks doing Child Adult Deaths Maimingsbodily harm victims victims

Akita 48 32 14 1 39Akita mix (inspecific) 2 2 0 0 2Akita/Chow mix 3 3 0 0 3Akita/Lab mix 1 1 0 0 1Akita/terrier mix 2 1 0 0 1Airedale/boxer 1 1 0 1 0 #Airedale 1 1 0 1 0American bulldog (not pit) 7 1 2 2 1 #Australian blue heeler 8 2 1 0 3Australian cattle dog 1 1 0 0 1Australian shepherd 7 5 0 0 2Australian shepherd mix 1 0 1 1 0 #Basset/GSD mix 1 1 0 1 0Basset/beagle mix 1 1 0 0 1Beagle 2 2 0 1 1 #Belgian shepherd 5 2 3 0 2Blue heeler 2 0 1 0 1Border collie 1 0 1 1 1 #Boxer 35 9 13 2 16 #Boxer mix 2 2 0 1 1Briard 2 0 1 1 0Brittany spaniel 4 1 0 0 1Bulldog (American 4 0 3 2 2Bulldog (English) 16 8 3 1 9Bull mastiff (Presa Canario) 37 11 17 7 19Bull mastiff/German shepherd 2 1 0 1 0Buff mastiff/Rottweiler 1 1 0 0 1Bull mastiff/Boxer 1 1 0 1 0Bull terrier (not pit) 2 1 1 0 1Cane Corso 5 1 3 1 4Catahoula 3 0 1 0 1Catahoula/pit bull mix 1 0 1 1 0Chow 51 34 14 6 34Chow/German shepherd 1 0 1 0 1Chow/husky mix 2 2 0 1 1Chow/Labrador mix 4 4 0 0 3Chox mix (other) 2 2 0 0 2Cocker spaniel 1 1 0 0 1Collie 3 3 0 0 3Collie/retriever mix 1 1 0 0 1Coonhound 1 1 0 0 0Dalmatian 3 3 0 0 3Dalmatian/Akita mix 1 1 0 0 1Dauschund 5 3 2 1 5 #Doberman 12 8 4 4 7 #Dogo Argentino 1 1 0 0 1Doge de Bordeaux 2 1 0 0 1East Highland terrier 1 0 1 1 0 #Fila Brasiero 1 1 0 0 1German shepherd 70 45 19 9 42German shepherd mix 34 23 8 7 21 #German shepherd/husky mix 4 3 1 1 2German shepherd/Lab mix 2 0 1 0 1Golden retriever 8 7 1 2 5 #Golden retriever mix 1 0 1 1 0 #Great Dane 25 5 5 2 10Great Pyranees 1 0 1 1 0Greyhound 1 1 0 0 1Husky 42 25 4 15 8Husky/Malamute mix 2 2 0 0 2Husky/Labrador mix 1 0 1 0 1Jack Russell terrier 3 2 1 2 0 #Labrador 30 20 11 3 23 #Labrador mix 11 9 2 0 10 #Labrador/boxer mix 1 0 1 0 0Lab-Doberman 1 1 0 0 1Lab-St. Bernard 1 1 0 0 1Malamute 8 7 1 3 3Maremma 1 0 1 0 1Mastiff 18 12 4 4 11Norwegian elkhound 1 0 1 0 1 #Old English sheep dog 2 1 1 2 0 #Pit bull terrier 1251 550 442 125 680 #Pit bull boxer mix 9 3 4 0 6Pit bull/chow mix 5 2 3 1 3Pit bull/Doberman/GSD/Lab 2 2 0 0 2Pit bull/GSD mix 1 1 0 0 1Pit bull/Lab mix 15 10 4 3 8 #Pit bull/Rott. mix 39 7 3 2 8Pit bull/Sheltie mix 1 1 0 0 1Pit bull/Weimaraner mix 1 0 1 0 1Pit mix unknown 4 2 1 0 3Pointer mix 1 0 1 0 0 #Pomeranian 1 1 0 1 0Poodle 2 1 1 0 2 #Poodle/terrier 1 1 0 0 1Pug 1 1 0 0 1Pug/Rottweiler mix 2 1 0 1 0Queensland heeler 3 0 1 0 1Rottweiler 429 245 113 63 234 #Rottweiler/chow mix 1 1 0 0 1Rottweiler/GSD mix 14 8 5 3 10Rottweiler/Labrador 7 6 1 0 7Russian terrier 1 0 1 0 1Saint Bernard 6 3 0 1 1Sharpei 5 5 0 0 5Sharpei/Rottweiler 2 1 0 0 1Sharpei/unknown mix 1 1 0 0 1Sharpei/Labrador 1 1 0 0 1 Springer spaniel 3 4 0 0 4Terrier mix (not pit bull) 1 0 1 0 1Tosa 1 1 0 0 1Weimaeaner 1 1 0 0 1Wheaten terrier 2 1 0 0 1Wolf hybrid 80 66 4 19 44 #Total: 2447 1239 734 307 1340Pit bulls, Rottweilers, Presa Canarios, and their mixes:1818 851 596 204 98873% 67% 82% 67% 72%Pit, Rott, Wolf hybrid 1754 863 563 208 96077% 73% 83% 70% 77%AnalysisThe tallies of attacks, attacks on children, attacks on adults, fatalities, and maimings on the above data sheet must be evaluated in three different contexts. The first pertains to breed-specific characteristic behavior, the second to bite frequency as opposed to the frequency of severe injuries. and the third to degree of relative risk.Of the breeds most often involved in incidents of sufficient severity to be listed, pit bull terriers and their close mixes make up only about 5% of the total U.S. dog population, according to my frequent surveys of regionally balanced samples of classified ads of dogs for sale, but they constitute more than 20% of the dog population in U.S. animal shelters at any given time, according to my 2004 and 2008 single-day shelter inventory surveys, the most recent of which brought responses from a regionally balanced sampling of 62 shelters, holding 5,236 dogs on the survey date. Animal control shelters, with the primary responsibility for responding to "dangerous dog" calls, made up 60% of the survey base and held 23% pit bulls.Pit bulls are noteworthy on the chart above for attacking adults almost as frequently as children. This is a very rare pattern: children are normally at greatest risk from dogbite because they play with dogs more often, have less experience in reading dog behavior, are more likely to engage in activity that alarms or stimulates a dog, and are less able to defend themselves when a dog becomes aggressive. Pit bulls seem to differ behaviorally from other dogs in having far less inhibition about attacking people who are larger than they are. They are also notorious for attacking seemingly without warning, a tendency exacerbated by the custom of docking pit bulls' tails so that warning signals are not easily recognized. Thus the adult victim of a pit bull attack may have had little or no opportunity to read the warning signals that would avert an attack from any other dog.Rottweilers by contrast show a fairly normal child/adult attack ratio. They seem to show up disproportionately often in the mauling, killing, and maiming statistics simply because they are both quite popular and very powerful, capable of doing a great deal of damage in cases where bites by other breeds might be relatively harmless.Wolf hybrids, German shepherds, and huskies are at the extreme opposite end of the scale, almost never inflicting severe injury on adults--but it would be a huge mistake to assume that these seemingly similar patterns reflect similar behavior. They do not. In fact, German shepherds and German shepherd mixes in which the German shepherd line predominates together amount to 16% of the entire U.S. and Canadian dog population, according to the data we have on breed-specific licensing, or just about nine million total dogs. There are by contrast only about 300,000 recognized wolf hybrids: about one for every 30 German shepherds. Relative to their overall numbers, wolf hybrids are accordingly 60 times more likely to kill or maim a child than a German shepherd--and that is before even beginning to consider the critical behavioral distinctions.German shepherds are herding dogs, bred for generations to guide and protect sheep. In modern society, they are among the dogs of choice for families with small children, because of their extremely strong protective instinct. They have three distinctively different kinds of bite: the guiding nip, which is gentle and does not break the skin; the grab-and-drag, to pull a puppy or lamb or child away from danger, which is as gentle as emergency circumstances allow; and the reactive bite, usually in defense of territory, a child, or someone else the dog is inclined to guard. The reactive bite usually comes only after many warning barks, growls, and other exhibitions intended to avert a conflict. When it does come, it is typically accompanied by a frontal leap for the wrist or throat.Because German shepherds often use the guiding nip and the grab-and-drag with children, who sometimes misread the dogs' intentions and pull away in panic, they are involved in biting incidents at almost twice the rate that their numbers alone would predict: approximately 28% of all bite cases, according to a recent five-year compilation of Minneapolis animal control data. Yet none of the Minneapolis bites by German shepherds involved a serious injury: hurting someone is almost never the dogs' intent.In the German shepherd mauling, killing, and maiming cases I have recorded, there have almost always been circumstances of duress: the dog was deranged from being kept alone on a chain for prolonged periods without human contract, was starving, was otherwise severely abused, was protecting puppies, or was part of a pack including other dangerous dogs. None of the German shepherd attacks have involved predatory behavior on the part of an otherwise healthy dog.Every one of the wolf hybrid attacks, however, seems to have been predatory. Only four of the fatality victims were older than age seven, and all three were of small stature. The first adult fatality was killed in the presence of her two young sons, whom she was apparently trying to protect. The second was killed while apparently trying to protect her dog. Most of the victims were killed very quickly. Some never knew the wolf hybrid was present. Some may never have known what hit them. Some were killed right in front of parents, who had no time to react.Unlike German shepherds, wolf hybrids are usually kept well apart from children, and from any people other than their owners. Yet they have still found more opportunity to kill and maim than members of any other breeds except pit bull terriers and Rottweilers, each of whom may outnumber wolf hybrids by about 10 to 1.Huskies appear to be a special case, in that even though they are common in the U.S., the life-threatening attacks involving them have virtually all occured in Alaska, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, Labrador, and the northernmost parts of Quebec. In these regions, huskies are frequently kept in packs, in semi-natural conditions, and in some cases are even allowed to spend summers without regular human supervision. Thus many of the husky attack cases might be viewed more as attacks by feral animals, even though they technically qualified for this log because they were identified as owned and trained animals, who were supposed to know that they were not to attack.Akitas, Malamutes, and Samoyeds have a similar attack pattern, but while these are also "northern breeds" commonly used to pull sleds, most of the attacks by Akitas, Malamutes, and Samoyeds have occurred in ordinary home situations. Cumulatively, the northern breeds appear to have an attack pattern resembling that of wolf hybrids more than that of most other dogs--which might merely point toward the numbers of wolf hybrids who are illegally kept under the pretense that they are various of the northern breeds.What all this may mean relative to legislation is problematic. Historically, breed-specific legislation has proved very difficult to enforce because of the problems inherent in defining animals for whom there may be no breed standards, or conflicting standards. Both pit bull terriers and wolf hybrids tend to elude easy legal definition; neither can they be recognized by genetic testing.The traditional approach to dangerous dog legislation is to allow "one free bite," at which point the owner is warned. On second bite, the dog is killed. The traditional approach, however, patently does not apply in addressing the threats from pit bull terriers, Rottweilers, and wolf hybrids. In more than two-thirds of the cases I have logged, the life-threatening or fatal attack was apparently the first known dangerous behavior by the animal in question. Children and elderly people were almost always the victims.Any law strong enough and directed enough to prevent the majority of life-threatening dog attacks must discriminate heavily against pit bulls, Rottweilers, wolf hybrids, and perhaps Akitas and chows, who are not common breeds but do seem to be involved in disproportionate numbers of life-threatening attacks. Such discrimination will never be popular with the owners of these breeds, especially those who believe their dogs are neither dangerous nor likely to turn dangerous without strong provocation. Neither will breed discrimination ever be acceptable to those who hold out for an interpretation of animal rights philosophy which holds that all breeds are created equal. One might hope that educating the public against the acquisition of dangerous dogs would help; but the very traits that make certain breeds dangerous also appeal to a certain class of dog owner. Thus publicizing their potentially hazardous nature has tended to increase these breeds' popularity.Meanwhile, because the humane community has demonstrated a profound unwillingness to recognize, accept, and respond to the need for some sort of strong breed-specific regulation to deal with pit bulls and Rottweilers, the insurance industry is doing the regulating instead, by means which include refusing to insure new shelters which accept and place pit bulls. That means a mandatory death sentence for most pit bulls, regardless of why they come to shelters.This is not a problem for older shelters, which have long established insurer relationships, but it is a hell of a problem for organizations without long histories of successful and mostly accident-free adoption, predating the present abundance of pit bulls and Rottweilers in the shelter dog population.Individual dog owners are also getting clobbered, either with liability premiums so high that no one can afford to keep pit bulls or Rottweilers, or by inability to find an insurer willing to cover anyone who has such a dog--or any other dog breed with a bad reputation, whether or not the reputation is deserved. (Compare attacks by pit bulls with attacks by Dobermans on the chart above.) This in turn means more pit bulls, Rottweilers, et al being surrendered to shelters, when their people cannot find rental accommodations or even buy a house because of their inability to obtain liability insurance.The humane community does not try to encourage the adoption of pumas in the same manner that we encourage the adoption of felis catus, because even though a puma can also be box-trained and otherwise exhibits much the same indoor behavior, it is clearly understood that accidents with a puma are frequently fatal.For the same reason, it is sheer foolishness to encourage people to regard pit bull terriers and Rottweilers as just dogs like any other, no matter how much they may behave like other dogs under ordinary circumstances.Temperament is not the issue, nor is it even relevant. What is relevant is actuarial risk. If almost any other dog has a bad moment, someone may get bitten, but will not be maimed for life or killed, and the actuarial risk is accordingly reasonable. If a pit bull terrier or a Rottweiler has a bad moment, often someone is maimed or killed--and that has now created off-the-chart actuarial risk, for which the dogs as well as their victims are paying the price.Pit bulls and Rottweilers are accordingly dogs who not only must be handled with special precautions, but also must be regulated with special requirements appropriate to the risk they may pose to the public and other animals, if they are to be kept at all.

Merritt CliftonEditor, ANIMAL PEOPLEP.O. Box 960Clinton, WA 98236Telephone: 360-579-2505Fax: 360-579-2575E-mail: anmlpepl@whidbey.comWeb: http://www.animalpeoplenews.org[ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide, founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations. We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year; for free sample, send address.]

"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

I like the fact that the news reporter can't be bothered to stop humping his own leg enough to verify his sources. Perhaps then he'd find out that the infamous Merritt Clifton report has been invalidated, disproven, and discredited roughly eleventy gajillion times.

You know what's more "dangerous" than "vicious dogs"? Irresponsible news media who perpetuate complete horseshit because they're more interested in the sales figures mass hysteria brings than their civic duty to report the truth to the consumers they serve.

My favorite part is "pit bull type" listed under the purebred section making up 66 bites. How unfair to lump all of them together when every other breed is listed specifically!

"Pit bull type", as far as I'm concerned, refers to APBT, Amstaffs, Staffys, and the new, Ambullys (although they aren't technically recognized). And really this could also be referring to american bulldogs and other bully breeds. So... if you divide 66 by (at least) 4 you get 16.5.If pit bulls were being treated like all the other dogs, according to these statistics, each "pit" breed would (roughly) account for 10% of total bites, not 36%.

How do so many people miss this?!

It amazes me that people, even people with the audacity to publicly report on a subject are SO uneducated on what they are reporting.

WTF!

~Brittany, Degan and Harlow's mom

"It is true that Pit Bulls grab and hold on. But what they most often grab and refuse to let go of is your heart, not your arm."